Leverage Incorporated
by Enchanted Hybrid
Summary: Backed by thieves and hackers, former insurance investigator Damon Salvatore pulls a 180 on the corporate and govermemt entities he used to protect. Pairings! Delena, Mattbekah! Parody of Leverage


DAMON POV

"I checked. Airport shuttle's in 15 minutes."

I rolled my eyes. If this guy didn't show up soon I was gone. Sitting in a hotel bar, drinking? I didn't mind that, frankly I adored the notion. The only problem? I've been waiting here an hour at least. If I wasn't me, I'd consider myself drunk.

"I'm sorry Mr. Salvatore, sorry, I know who you are I've, uh, excuse me," I turned irritably around to see my supposed "client " Mikeal. "I've read all about you. I know for example that-that when you found that stolen Monet painting in Florence you probably saved your Insurance Company what 20-25 million dollars. Then there was that identity theft thing and you saved your insurance company I don't even know how many millions of dollars but I just know that when you needed them… What happened to your family is the kind of thing-"

My back straightened and my annoyance grew at the mention of the "thing". He had no right to mention it. Not him or anybody else for that matter. Reaching in front of me I took a shot of beer, drinking the whole entire thing. Slamming it down I explained to him "Okay, this is that part of the conversation where I punch you in the neck nine or ten times." I stood from my seat intent on making my statement true.

Mikeal took a step back waving his hands in defeat as if a white flag "I just want to offer you a job."

I raised an eyebrow "What do you got?"

Mikeal sat down "Do you know anything about airplane design?"

With a sigh I sat down next to him "I could give it a shot, you know, you give me a pencil and one of those little rulers." I joked.

Mikeal was not amused "Somebody stole my airplane designs."

"I see and you'd like me to find them right?" I guessed accurately without a doubt considering the expression on Mikeal's face.

"No," he snapped "I know where they are. I want you to steal them back."

I frowned seeing my confusion, Mikeal explained "Look, my engineer goes missing, he disappears with all my files and then one week later Pierson announces an identical project," he paused "Come on."

"I don't know," I shrugged "Stealing them back, it seems like a stupid risk, there are other ways…"

"Listen to me," Mikeal replied "At the end of this month I have a shareholder's meeting Mr. Salvatore. I've spent, already, five years, 100 million dollars on R&D. If I go to that meeting with nothing to show for it? Then I am dead."

Taking out a folder he passed it across the table.

"I'm serious." Mikeal continued "Look, look at the people I've already hired. Do you recognize any of these names?"

Picking up the file I turned my face as I read the files "I've chased all of them at one time or anoth-" i stopped abruptly doing another take "Rebekah?" I let out a laugh "You got Rebekah?!"

"Is there somebody better?" Mikeal replied reasonably.

"No," I nodded " but Rebekah is insane."

Mikeal agreed "Which is why I need you."

"I'm not a thief." I slammed down the files and crossed my arms.

"Thieves I got," Mikeal exclaimed. "What I need is one honest man to watch them."

I withheld myself from laughing as he asked "Are you in?"

"It's not going to work, these people you hired they all have the same rep. They work alone, they always work alone, there's no exceptions and there's no way they're going to work for you." I said now serious.

"No, they will, they will," Mikeal explained "For $300,000 each, they will, and for you, for running it, it's double that. And it's off the books, completely off the books. Look at me, I'm desperate here. And that's just the salary, there is a bonus. Pierson is insured by I.Y.S., your old bosses. It's a 50 million dollar intellectual property rights policy. Mr. Salvatore, how badly do you want to screw the insurance company that let your father die?"

MATT POV

"Okay, clear comms."

I rolled my eyes as I picked up the headset. "This isn't gonna work,"I explained

"This equipment is VH1, it's best of the 80's." I smiled "I've got something nicer."

"No surprises now." Damon warned. I groaned

"I've been doing this since high school," I explained "I'm Captain Discipline."

_New York City Hotel, Five Years Ago_

_"They came straight from the airport and up to their room!" The manager exclaimed running alongside the security guard._

_"So you never actually saw any of them then." The security guard deducted._

_"No," the manager argued "but the credit card numbers checked out."_

_"Break it down!" The security guard pushed the doors open to reveal Matt on the couch drinking orange soda well three women behind him fight with light sabers, all dressed as princess Leia._

_"Does that look like Mick Jagger to you?" The security guard growled._

_Matt waved his hand "This is not the room you're looking for."_

ALARIC POV

"It's a bone-conduction earpiece mic," Matt explained "It works off the vibrations in your jaw." He tossed one to me which I swiftly caught and held to my ear examining it.

"You can hear everything." Matt whispered into his own earpiece, i heard loud and clear through my own.

"You're not as useless as you look." I commented as Matt looked at me in suprise.

"I don't even know what you do." Matt snapped.

_3 Years Ago_

_Alaric wearing glasses and drinking from a mug of tea, enters a room full of men in Belgrade, Serbia._

_"I'm here to collect the merchandise." He stated calmly._

_Most of the men pull guns as Alaric took a long sip of his drink._

_Outside, the windows flash with gunfire. Moans and the sound of a body falling fill the air._

_Inside, Alaric calmly takes another drink. One man sits at a table surrounded by bodies that litter the ground. He places a baseball card on the table._

_Alaric smiles._

REBEKAH POV

I dropped down between Alaric and Matt, hanging upside down from scaffolding.

"Can I have one?" I asked.

"You can have the whole box." Matt flirted as he tossed me one. I pulled myself back up. I placed the comm in my ear with a smile.

_19 Years Ago in Kansas City, a ten year old Rebekah stood in her living room watching her foster parents fight._

_The foster father turned to Rebekah, holding a stuffed bunny while the foster mother stood in the background, crying._

_"You thought I wouldn't find this? You don't get bunny until you do what I say. So be a good girl!" He paused shrugging "Or, I don't know, a better thief." With that he stormed off_

_"Billy!" The foster mother cried after him._

_Rebekah walked outside and down the walk. Behind her, the house exploded. She hugged her bunny and smiled._

I adjusted my repelling gear, caressing it as if it were my lover.

"Last time I used this rig, Paris, 2003." I fawned.

"Is this thing safe?" Alaric asked as he examined his earpiece..

"You talking about the Caravaggio? You stole that?" Damon demanded from me. I shrugged not replying.

"Yeah," Matt said in regards to Alaric "it's completely safe, it's just, you know, you might experience nausea, weakness in your right side, stroke, strokiness."

"You're precisely why I work alone." Alaric glowered.

MATT POV

"Guys listen up, we're going to go on my count, not a second sooner." Damon ordered "No freelancing."

"Relax," Alaric reassured "We know what we're doing."

"And on the count of five." Damon ignored me.

"He doesn't want to be our pal." I warned.

"We're on the count," Damon exclaimed "Five, four, three..."

I felt a shiver run through me as Rebekah ran past me, her blonde hair trailing behind her.

"She's gone." Alaric with an eye roll.

"Sonuva …" Damon cursed.

She jumped off the roof top with her arms flowing behind her much like a swan dive.

Both Alaric and I ran to the edge to watch as she gracefully dropped with a certain amount of glee and pride as she fell.

"That women in a proper nut job." Commented Alaric.

REBEKAH POV

I hung upside down staring into the office window. More like that beautiful alarm system that was just so horribly avoidable.

"Vibration detectors are on." I said.

"No cutting Rebekah," Damon told me "Use the binary."

I placed a cutting agent on the glass and begun. I attached a suction cup to the glassed and soon pulled it away letting it drop to the ground. It dropped like a pin. I reached into the whole and put a remote on the table.

I swiftly climbed into the wind and hit my remote which released my rope. I flipped of the desk and caught the sliding pencil easily.

I ran into the hallway and imminently saw my target.

Danger: High Voltage

Perfect.

Walking into the room I sat down a lab tap and crossed two wires.

"You know Rebekah," Alaric said to me "Anytime you wanna—"

"Whoa!" I heard Matt gasp as a satisfactory smile lit my face.

"Boys are on their way." I told Damon

"What are you getting with security? You see security?" I twisted my head around to look at the security room on my monitors.

"They don't see a thing."

I watched the monitor of the security guards. Only their monitors showed no sign of us. Not a little

"Doors open." I said with a click of my hand.

"All right boys and girls, show time." Damon exaggerated "Here we go. You got any chatter on their frequencies?"

I frowned "No. Why?"

"There's eight listed on the duty roster, there's only four at the guard post." Damon explained.

I looked over the monitor again "I can't even tell how many guys are in the room. How can you tell who's who?"

"Haircuts." Said Damon, I could hear the smirk in his voice "Count the haircuts."

"Problem?" Alaric asked over the comms.

"Maybe." Damon replied "Run the cameras."

"Ten digit password," I heard Matt comment with joy in his voice "Awesome."

I scrolled throigh the camera feeds and soon found the missing guards.

"Got 'em. They're doing their walk-through an hour early, why the f-"

"Because it's the playoffs." Damon interrupted.

I tightened the view on the TV screen in the security room to see the baseball game.

"Yeah, game 5 of the playoffs. They're doing their rounds an hour early so they can watch the playoffs." Damon confirmed "All right, where are they?"

"They're at the stairwell." I replied.

"Okay, here's what we gotta do." Damon ordered "We gotta squelch 'em."

Joyfully, I hit the keys on the laptop to send a high pitched sound onto the guards comm frequencies.

That should keep them occupied for a while.

MATT POV

"Alaric," I heard Damon address "what I want you to do is clear the zone and use Donovan as bait."

"Bait? What? Hold up." I frowned looking between where Alaric previously stood and the download I was waiting for "Wait a minute, are you serious?" I turned to the device "Come on, work for me, come on, please!"

"Matt, they're almost there." Rebekah warned.

"Forget it." I said shaking my head. I wasn't getting caught over this, no way. I turned to leave but I soon found guards standing there. Guns pointing at.

"Hold it right there." The guard warned. I raised my hands over my head as I watched Alaric walk out from behind the guards. I watched in fascination as Alaric easily took out each of the guys. In seconds I saw that Alaric was the only one left standing, one of the guard's guns in his hand.

"That's what I do." Alaric said dropping the gun. I couldn't and wouldn't deny that i was impressed. Behind us, I soon heard the doors click open. Alaric and I ran into the server room.

"Talk to me, okay? 'Cause I don't know what's going on." Damon said with a hint of worry in his voice.

Alaric begun tying up the guards whole i worked on the terminal.

"It's all good, I'm stripping the drives right now," I smirked as I plugged in the flash drive and waited. A second passed and I took out the flash drive "Got all the designs, got all the backups. I'm leaving this cupboard bare." I smirked.

"Drop the spike." Damon ordered and with much enthusiasm, obliged.

The monitor flashed and then showed the blue Screen of Death. Then the lights in the servers began ti go out.

"Did you give them a virus?" Alaric asked me. I laughed joyously.

"I gave them more than one virus." Alaric rolled his eyes at me and the two of us exited into the hallway.

"Problem," Rebekah addressed us "Those guards you ganked? They reset all the alarms on the roof and all the floors above us. We can't go up." My eyes widened. Uh oh.

"Every man for himself then." Alaric snapped as he began to leave,

"Go ahead!" I snapped "I'm the one with the merchandise."

"Yeah, well I'm the one with an exit." Rebekah cursed.

"And I'm the one with a plan." Damon said slightly "Now I know you children don't play well with others but I need you to hold it together for exactly seven more minutes. Now get to the elevator and head down. We're going to the burn scam."

Alaric and I shared a look before entering the elevator and we both began changing our clothes.

"Going to Plan B?" I asked Damon.

"Technically this would be Plan G." Damon corrected.

The elevator doors opened once again and Rebekah ran in. Alaric and I both quickly looked away as she begun to change.

"How many plans do we have?" I questioned out of curiosity "Is there like a Plan V?

"Yeah," I heard the smugness in Damon's voice "Matt dies in Plan V."

"I like Plan V." Alaric commented off handedly. I gave him a look.

We were all dressed in business suits, Alaric kneeled to put a brace on Rebekah's leg while I painted fake burns on her face

"Stay still, stay still." I repeated "Don't move."

The elevator doors opened and we begun the show. Rebekah walked with a cane and I helped her with Alaric following us. The guard covered his gun and stared at Rebekah as we moved the exit.

"Nice." Alaric addressed the guard "Why don't you stare a little more?"

"Sorry." The guard apologized.

"You gotta be kidding me." Alaric said with a glare.

"No Miles," Rebekah faked "It's okay."

"No, it's not." I said staying in character.

"Sorry, sorry." The guard muttered.

"I understand." Rebekah said with fake tears.

"I'm sorry." The guard said again.

"Get the door," Alaric ordered "come on."

"Again, sorry."

The trio of us left the building gradually dropping the act as we head for the car. Rebekah threw her cane to me and I caught as we all jumped into the car and Damon drove off.

DAMON POV

The four of us stood together as Matt worked on a small laptop.

"Come on, come on," I hurried "It's only taking all night. Come on."

"I got a couple of Wi-Fi networks with some crappy bandwidth." Matt explained, he hit some keys on the keyboard "There you go." He smiled "The designs are sent."

"Great." I smirked "The money will be in all your accounts later today."

"Anybody else notice how hard we rocked last night?" Matt commented.

"Yeah, well, one show only," Alaric replied "No encores."

"I already forgot your names." Rebekah shrugged.

"It was kind of cool," Matt added "Being on the same side."

"No," I corrected "We are not on the same side. I am not a thief."

"You are now." Rebekah smiled in my direction "Come on Damon, tell the truth. Didn't you have a little bit of fun playing the Black King instead of the White Knight, just this once?"

Not replying, I just walked away and presumingly, they did the same.

I woke to the annoying little shit that is my phone ringing. I groggily got up and fumbled to answer my phone.

"Yeah." I said sluggishly.

"You screwed me!" My eyes widened at Mikeal's voice "The designs never got to me."

"No," I replied rubbing my eyes "I watched them go out."

"I don't know what you saw but I received nothing!" Mikeal replied.

"Look," I said "I told you, you couldn't trust 'em."

"It is not my job to trust anybody that is what you were here for." Mikeal growled "I am freezing the payments. I am freezing all the payments."

"All right, look." I explained "I will come over there right now, we'll straighten this out."

"No, no, no do not come here." Mikeal snapped "My company has an old aircraft facility outside the city and I will text you the address and you be there, in one hour."

I slowly put down the phone and got ready to go.

I entered the Warehouse to find a big room where I heard loud voices coming from.

"You mind telling me what happened to the designs?" Matt said, gun in hand.

"What makes you think I know what happened?" Alaric replied angrily "Stupid."

"Look," Matt defended "You did it when we were coming down from the elevator."

"Yeah, that makes sense doesn't it?" Alaric humored "You had the file every second."

"Hold up Kujo," Matt waved the gun "I did my part, I transferred the files."

"You better get that gun out of my face..." Alaric threatened.

"What will you do?" Matt provoked.

"…or else I'm gonna feed it to you."

"Hey." I said deciding to interrupt. The two men turned, Matt now had the gun on me.

"Did you do it?" Alaric questioned "You're the only one that's ever played both sides."

"Yeah," I humored "You seem pretty relaxed for a guy with a gun pointed at him."

Alaric turned to Matt "Safety's on."

"Like I'm gonna fall for that." Matt stated.

"No," I rolled my eyes "Actually he's right, the safety is on."

Matt looked at the gun and I used that opportunity to grab his gun.

"You armed?" I asked Alaric.

Alaric shook his head "I don't like guns."

Alaric looked over my shoulder and I turned to see Rebekah holding a gun to me.

"My money's not in my account." I lowered my gun as she added "That makes me very unhappy, to say mildly."

"Okay, Rebekah." I slowly lowered her gun "Now did you come here to get paid?"

"No way." Matt crossed his arms "Transfer of funds man. Global economy."

"It's supposed to be a walk away. I'm never supposed to see you again." Alaric glowered.

"Then the only reason you guys are here is because you didn't get paid. And you're pissed off." I laughed hysterically " As a matter of fact the only way to get us all in the same place at the same time," my voice became deadly serious "Is to tell us that we're not. Getting. Paid."

Soon realization fell in. We all started to run, I opened the garage door and directed them all out.

"Come on, come on, get up. Let's go, hustle. Go." I shooed. They all exited and I turned to see a ball of fire heading towards me.

Then it all went black.

I woke up to find myself handcuffed to a bed. Kinky. Across the room Alaric was handcuffed to a chair.

"You don't like hospitals." He noted by my expression.

"What was your first clue?"

"It's about time." I twisted my head around at Rebekah's voice that came through the vent.

"What?"

"Cops and firemen got there just as we were waking up." She explained.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"County hospital. Local cops, they responded to the explosion." Matt answered sullenly across the vent.

"Have we been processed?" I asked. Alaric waved ink covered finger tips at me.

"They faxed our prints to the State Police." He answered.

"Hey," Matt exclaimed "If the states run us we're screwed."

"How long?" Rebekah questioned.

"Thirty, thirty-five minutes depending on the software." Matt said automaticslly.

"They printed us twenty minutes ago." Alaric said "So unless we get out of here in the next ten minutes we all go to jail."

"Yeah, all right. I uh …" I thought for a moment a million things going through my head.

"I can take these cops." Alaric suggested.

"Don't you dare" Rebekah growled "You kill anyone you screw up my getaway."

"Rebekah," I addressed "Get me a phone. What we're going to do is, we're going to get out of here together."

"This was a onetime deal." Alaric frowned.

"Look guys, here's your problem." I explained " You all know what you can do, I know what all you can do, so that gives me the edge, gives me the plan."

"I don't trust these guys." Rebekah said.

"Do you trust me?" I replied.

"Of course." Alaric frowned "You're an honest man."

"Rebekah, Phone." I ordered.

"This is gonna suck." She said, I soon heard the sound of puking.

"Oh. Hell no!" Matt screamed in disgust.

It took a few minutes before I heard my name "Damon." Rebekah said as the phone was slipped through the vents.

"I got it. So the trick is to give them what they want. They're expecting a phone call, right? I tossed the phone to Alaric with a smirk.

"This is Deputy Burns." K heard from the other line.

"This is Detective Lieutenant Carden with the Illinois State Police." Alaric faked "We got those prints that you sent us. The problem I have is that they're sending up red flags all over the place and I've got somebody on the phone for you from the FBI down there in Washington. Can you hold son?"

"Yes, sir." Deputy Burns saluted.

"Come on." Matt said "There it goes."

Alaric tossed the phone to me

"Yeah, Deputy Burns," I said changing my voice "This is Deputy-Director McCumber, FBI. Yes, is our man all right?"

"Uh, I'm sorry, I don't follow …" Deputy Burns said.

"Deputy, listen to me the man that you have inside there is ours actually. He's been in deep cover for three years."

"Seriously?"

"That's correct." I nodded "In fact you should be receiving a fax any moment now confirming what I'm telling you. Most of what I've told you is classified. I need to know I can trust you. Can I?"

"Yes sir."

ALARIC POV

Matt lead me to the police cruiser that Damon and Rebekah currently were residing in. As Matt lead me into the backseat I felt a hit on the top of my head as Matt slammed the door.

"Walk it off." Matt chuckled as I growled at him, he then turned to the cop.

"Men, it fills my heart with tears of joy, what you guys do. It does." I rolled my eyes at his exaggeration as he strolled into the car.

A nurse soon came outside and walked over to Deputy Burns "There's a call for you, State Police."

Matt's face showed the most devious smirk as we drove away.

Matt parked the car in a place I didn't recognize. No one really cared, we only followed him inside.

"Four first class tickets to anywhere but here, coming up." Matt exclaimed.

"Whose place is this?" Rebekah asked looking around.

"It's mine." Shrugged Matt.

"I'm gonna beat Mikealson so bad that even the people who look like him are gonna bleed." I stated stoically.

"You won't get within 100 yards. He knows your face." Rebekah commented "He knows all our faces."

"He tried to kill us." I reminded.

"More importantly" Rebekah said crossing her arms "He didn't pay us."

"How is that more important?" I spat at her. The crazy women.

"I take that personally." Rebekah pouted.

"There's something wrong with you." I observed.

Matt began typing in a computer "Heads up look. Mikealson's story is 90 percent true. He is the head of Bering Aerospace big rival to Pierson, but, check out what my little web crawlers coughed up." Matt pressed a button as Pierson's voice spoke on the monitor.

"We've lost research that we've been working on for over five years. Our servers have been sabotaged, now we're going to pursue these perpetrators to the full extent of the law and with all the resources we have at our disposal."

"Could be a cover story." Suggested Damon ever the paranoid.

"Here's a log of last night's rip. Internal timestamps on the project – 2003, 2004, they're way, way down in the code. There's no reason to fake those." Matt explained, the mood shifted.

"So we didn't steal the plans back?" I realized.

"No," frowned Rebekah "We were just stealing them."

"Why would Mikealson lie to us?" Matt said stupidly.

"Cause you're thieves." Damon shrugged "If he hired you for a straight up crime, you'd know he was a bad guy like you, you'd be suspicious. This way you just saw another citizen in over his head and that's why you didn't see the double cross coming."

"Why didn't you see it coming?" Rebekah snapped back.

"Because I'm not a thief."

"You know what," I said "Maybe that was the problem. If you-"

"Hey, hey hey." Matt said as he begun handing out sheets of paper "I bought tickets to London, Rome, Paris and Sao Paulo all matching the IDs that you gave me."

Damon casually walked over to Matt's monitor "You're running."

"You got a better idea?" I asked.

"No," Damon shook his head looking at the screen and referring to Mikeal "You're running. Now that was a high-risk play. You got your balls tied to the stock price like a cinder block, shareholder meeting coming up. We can't let this guy have any time to cool down."

I raised an eyebrow "You want to run a game on this guy? You?"

"Yeah. I mean," he explained "How do you think I got most of my stolen merchandise back? I mean, this guy he's greedy, he thinks he's smart, he's the best kind of mark."

"He does think he got rid of us." Rebekah said suggestively.

"Element of surprise." Matt agreed with a smirk

"What's in it for me?" I questioned.

"Payback, and if it goes right a lot of money." Damon said smiling.

"What's in it for me?" Rebekah asked beside me.

"A lot of money," Damon said "And if it goes right, payback. Matt?"

"I was just gonna send a thousand porno magazines to his office, but, yeah, let's kick him up."

I turned to Damon curiously "What's in it for you?"

"He used my dad." Damon said with cold eyes "All right. Let's go get Elena."

With that last word Damon stalked out of the room followed by Rebekah and Matt.

I paused "What the hell's a Elena"

ELENA POV

I stood on the stage, dressed in medieval and acting as best as I could. For some reason many were booing me. There loss.

"Come, you spirits that tend on mortal thoughts," I raised my voice and fell on my knees as if praying "Unsex me here, and fill me from the crown" I touched the top of my head bringing my hands down "To the toe top-full of direst! Make thick my blood; Stop up the access and passage to remorse, that no…" I paused forgetting the line. Damn, what was it again?

I hesitated and repeated "That no compunctious visitings of nature-

And then the tomatoes came.

I excited the theater walking into the back alleyway only to be greeted by three unfamiliar faces. And Damon.

"No. No, I vote no." I overheard one of them.

"Rebekah right," Damon said "Mikealson knows us and we need a fresh face." He began to clap as k approached the four "I thought you were great

I smirked "My only fan."

_Paris  
Seven years ago_

_Elena was cutting a painting out of a frame with several empty frames nearby. The door burst open and Damon entered with a gun in hand._

_"Freeze." He said pointing it at her._

_Elena in turn grabbed her gun and shot Damon in the shoulder. She turned back to the painting but Damon wasn't done yet. He responded by shooting her in the back.  
Both clenched their wounds._

_"You sonofabitch."_

"I'm a citizen now." I smiled "Honest."

Damon narrowed his eyes "I'm not."

I tilted my head "You're playing my side." I glanced at the team behind him "I always thought you had it in you."

"Are you in?" Damon said cutting straight to the point.

"Always straight to the point huh?" I reminisced "I wouldn't miss this for the world."

"All right," Damon said with now a smile on his face "Let's break the law just one more time." He turned and strolled into his car followed by the rest of his team entering the back seat. I entered the passenger seat and Damon drove away.

REBEKAH POV

Matt's screen displayed pictures of Mikeal on his TV while the rest of us watched.

"Mikeal, executive vice-president in charge of new technology development over at Bering Aerospace." Matt explained. It was then Alaric entered with popcorn and sat down among us.

"Rich daddy, trust fund, Yale MBA. Blah, blah blah." Matt went on. "Now Bering is in charge of a lot of big fat government contracts. Some Department of Defense research, very classified stuff."

"Can we use that?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so." Matt answered "Mikeal is in charge of their commercial airline business."

"I know when you sent Mikeal his designs you weren't supposed to make any copies." Damon directed at Matt.

"No," smirked Matt "I promise. That would be very wrong."

"Show me your copies."

Matt laughed as he brought the copies up.

Alaric frowned "It's an airplane."

"It's a short alt domestic airliner, usually one hour flights. It's the fastest growing segment of the industry, very fuel efficient. High tech. Very nice carbon nose, it's got the titanium wrap. 3 to 1. "

I and everyone else, looked at him in surprise.

"You know, you pick up things here and there."

"You pick up a lot of stuff." Matt observed.

"Ha!" I couldn't help but laugh.

"Check this out." Matt begun "Now Mikeal and Pierson they were head to head for five years trying to grab the lead in an industry that's worth like eleventy-billion dollars."

"So Pierson got there first, Mikeal took a short cut." I concluded.

"So he's got a rival. He's got a rival that pisses him off so much he hired us to steal his designs. This is good." Damon smirked.m

Elena narrowed her eyes "What are you thinking, Damon?"

"I'm thinking Bulgarians. Yeah, Bulgarians will do nicely."

Damon stood up and walked away. Al of us turned to Elena to clear the confusion. She only laughed

"Well, he hasn't changed a bit."

ELENA POV

I waited patiently for Mikeal to arrive much like a mouse would to a well-mouse trap. He strutted past me without even taking notice, that was until his secretary said "Your 9 o'clock is here."

"My…?" He turned to see me. I got up to settle that look of confusion and intoduce my persona.

"Mr. Mikealson, Ally Shepard, Bulgaria Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative."

MATT POV

I sat down at my computer with Damon sticking his nose over my shoulder.

"Here comes the mountain of suck." I groaned,

ELENA POV

"You government?" Mikeal snapped at me and I begun.

"No, no. Private business consortium." I followed him into his inner office "We are looking to encourage infrastructure development and economic renewal."

"I have no idea what that means in English." Mikael paused. "What does it mean?"

"We create jobs and trade in Bulgaria. Keep the graft and the stealing manageable."

DAMON POV

"She's not awful." Matt said generally shock.

"This is her stage." I smirked "Elena Gilbert is the finest actress you've ever seen… when she's breaking the law."

ELENA POV

"Keep graft and stealing manageable in Bulgaria," Mikeal repeatwd "good luck but I don't think I can help. I don't think any human being on Earth can help you with that. Sorry."

"Come on." I exclaimed "Let's go and talk somewhere a little less formal, eh?"

"Uh, no, Look, I, Miss, ah…"

I walked out and Mikeal reluctantly followed me.

DAMON POV

"Okay, and now." I ordered and Matt hit a few keys making the secretary's computer crash.

REBEKAH POV

I had the phone hooked into the wiring.

"Hello IT." I said in a fake american accent.

"Yeah," the secretary responded "this is Mikeal. Mikealson's office, my computer just completely crashed."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Did you try turning it on and off again?" I asked, Matt told me to say that.

"Yes, nothing seems to be working."

"We've got someone on your floor already."

ALARIC POV

I walked into Mikeal's office with fake glasses, a bow tie and a vest.

"Thank you." The secretary said hanging up.

I smiled "Somebody call IT?"

ELENA POV

"I represent a group of investors who are looking to start an airline for short tour flights in Bulgaria." I explained slyly.

"Of Johannesburg?"

"Okay," Damon said in my ear "he's testing you. You want Bloemfontein."

"Keep away from the hubs." I shrugged casually "Revitalize the regional airports. In South Bulgaria, Bloemfontein for example. But really, it's Bulgaria we're focused on."

"Yeah, perfect." Damon encouraged.

"Most of their airport runways are a mess." Frowned Mikeal.

"I believe new airplanes will make people more comfortable while we renew old runways."

"Uh huh. I don't recall saying anything about new airplanes."

"Mikeal." I said "Both you and your chief engineer are scheduled to speak at your shareholder's meeting."

"I think you know more about my business than I do."

"I've done my homework."

I smirked "I find you fascinating."

ALARIC POV

Well Rebekah snuck into Mikeal's office, I flirted and distracted the secretary.

"It's good. It's good to have a passion, you know." She said.

"Let me show you how to uh reconnect with the network." I explained.

"Now, shouldn't I be playing the computer guy?" I heard Matt complain.

"No," Damon replied "I want you to actually be the computer guy."

"All right."

The secretary put her hand on the mouse and I put my hand on hers to guide it.

"Voila."

She felt my arm "You are strong for a computer guy."

"Why thank you." I smiled "I like to work out and try to stay big 'cause I love dressing up like a Klingon and going to all the conventions, you know. Bacla! Sorry."

"It's okay. Bacla!"

"Oh! Don't you tease me."

"Oh, hold up!" Matt yelled "that is not … that is not cool. That is not cool. We gonna have a strong talk when you get back."

"You've got unbelievably blue eyes." I complimented.

"Thank you." She blushed.

"They're stunning. Just breathtakingly blue."

ELENA POV

We strolled down the wharf.

"Uh, sorry is it Gerald?" Mikeal asked me.

"No."

"I'm sorry."

"Shepard."

"I'm sorry. Really sorry." He apologized.

"Ally." I repeated.

"Ally, thank you. How's this? If we announce a new product then you can order as many as your little heart desires."

"Okay, you know what to do." Damon addressed "Hit him."

"We'd also like to build the planes. More jobs. Build them in Bulgaria, fly them in Bulgaria, sell the rest around the world."

"Well, that's very ambitious." Mikeal said "You have the manufacturing facilities to do all that?"

I waved off the idea "Ah! We can easily raise the money to build the facilities if we know for certain we're going to get the contracts."

"Atta girl."

"Ally, I'm really sorry but I can't help you." Mikeal frowned.

"It was a nice try." Matt sughed.

"Wait for it." Damon responded.

"I understand." I nodded.

Mikeal checked his watch "And I really do have…"

"I'll take it to Pierson." I stated.

"Pierson? Uh, sure, go ahead, Pierson's a great company, I don't think they can help you, but-"

"Oh, they have a reputation for long-term investment, you don't. They're innovators. Yeah," I nodded "it's probably a better fit."

" I know-" with a sigh, Mikeal concluded "I'm aware that you're manipulating me, Ally."

I smiled "Well I should hope so. Hundreds of millions of dollars in new contracts, a lot of good press, all at your door."

"Okay, I give up, I'll take the meeting." He went to shake my hand but I abruptly begun to leave.

"I'll have my office call you."

"What? Yeah"

"Day after tomorrow?"

"Uh, yeah sure. Look forward to doing business with you."

ALARIC POV

Matt was on his computer while I played pool

"Hey Damon," Matt exclaimed "I got all his financials off his hard drive and all his passwords."

"Yeah." Damon nodded heading towards the pool table.

"Your shot." I said attempting to give him a bear. He waved it off.

"No thanks." He picked up the pool cue "Five corner."

"You look better than when we started." I noted.

"Yeah."

"Yeah." I repeated "And that bothers you, huh?"

" I..." Damon sighed "This isn't supposed to feel-"

"Good? It's not that hard to figure out. Mikeal screwed you. He cheated by stealing from that other company and your good guy brain sees him as the bad guy. Your conscience is clear."

"You want to take your shot?"

"Listen," I begun "I'm sorry about your-"

"You don't know anything about that!" Damon yelled.

"Everybody knows. A guy like you goes off the street a lot of people notice. And it was a bad story, too. How did they justify that, huh? The insurance company just not paying for his treatment?"

A sullen look came upon Damon's face "They claimed it was experimental."

"You should have kept one of those Monets you found." I said "You fence that—"

"Alaric," Damon said abruptly "You and I are not friends."

"Right. Right." I said sarcastically "Because you have so many of them." I pointed to the approaching Elena "Incoming."

"Hey, can you help me with this earpiece?" She asked Damon.

"Uh, yeah, ask Matt…" Damon said awkwardly.

"Damon," She said "come on "

She held out the ear piece to him and he took it, placing it gently in here ear.

"Thanks," Elena giggled "So, uh, this time you really are inside my head."

She walked away well Matt glided across the room his his chair "Ooh. Ooh. Mmm."

DAMON POV

Matt and I watched Mikeal pull up in front of the building. He got out of the car and headed outside.

"Elena, he's on-site."

"What?" She spoke "No, I'm not ready."

"If you don't meet him right now in the lobby he's going to go to the building directory and look for the office number." I sighed "Guys we are not in the building directory."

"And why aren't we in the directory?" Alaric asked.

"I don't know, maybe because they're fake offices." Matt shrugged.

"There's no elevator." Elena said worriedly.

"All right I'll distract him. Rebekah," I addressed "You got ten seconds to get Elena to the lobby."

REBEKAH POV

I ran into the hallway and opened the door "Elena!"

Elena ran over "What's going on?"

"Put this on." I said throwing her a harness.

"What's it for?" Elena asked skeptically.

I smirked. "Speed."

DAMON POV

I took a retractable baton from my coat and headed for the building looking around. I hit the window of one of the car's parked in front of the building. The alarm went off. I hit two. I hit two more cars, people ran outside to see what was happening. This distracted Mikeal for a few momenta.

REBEKAH POV

I attached the harness holding myself and Elena to a rope. Elena looked over the rail to see that it's a long way down. The two of us jumped down as Elena screamed.

ELENA POV

I walked out of the stairwell looking somewhat flustered. I walked over to Mikeal to get his attention.

"Oh, ah, our offices are on the tenth floor." I explained.

"Oh. You're uh," Mikeal looked over me "You have a glow."

"Just … excited." I lead him to the elevator.

"One thing. The gentleman bringing you this opportunity to work with their government, they'll, um, expect some, um, compensation. Not a bribe of course."

"A finder's fee." Mikeal nodded.

"Exactly."

Mikeal narrowed his eyes "I thought your job was to eliminate graft and stealing."

"No." I shook my head "My job is to keep it manageable."

ALARIC POV

I finished hanging the sign that read "Bulgarian Commercial Transport and Trade Initiative" as the elevator opened and I walked away.

ELENA POV

I lead Mikeal to a room filled with Bulgarian officials.

"Good afternoon. Mr. Mikealson, we are honored by your presence." One of the officials said.

"No, no, the honor is entirely all mine, getting in on the ground floor of something like this is a wonderful opportunity."

REBEKAH POV

I joined Matt and Damon sitting at a table at the cafe.

"Nice job on the zip line." Damon exclaimed.

"Totally thought she was going to break a leg." I laughed "Not bad for a first time."

"So what do you think?" I heard Mikeal say on the comm.

"She's closing it up."

ELENA POV

"Yes, absolutely." the official said "We can definitely repurpose those factories."

"Great." Mikeal smiled.

"I believe we will be able to do a lot of business together, sir."

"About the…" I paused "the other matter."

"Of course." The official nodded. I stood up and walked to the other side of the table. I took an envelope from the Bulgarian and took it to Mikeal who opened it from under the table. The piece of paper said $1,000,000.

"Is it agreeable?" I asked.

"Oh, I think we can work something out." Mikeal nodded.

"Excellent."

DAMON POV

"We got him?" Damon asked I joined Damon on the sidewalk.

"We own him."

"Okay gang, let's go. We got a busy day tomorrow."

Elena frowned "This is going to work, right?"

"I guarantee it."

ELENA POV

I approached Mikeal.

"Well, aren't you the cat that ate the canary?" I asked.

"Does it show?"

"Horrible poker-face."

"Guilty." Mikeal looked back at the Bulgarians "Why don't we get this done?"

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"You have the whole payment?" I asked.

"Absolutely," he nodded "I think we should make the deal. I want to make the announcement, get even bigger headlines. I'll take them into a conference room away from all this. Go, go, go, let's do it."

"I'll be right back." I said walking over to the Bulgarians.

In the conference room Mikeal lead myself and the Bulgarians inside.

"Gentlemen, now everybody come in, relax, make yourselves comfortable." Mikeal exclaimed.

"Thank you."

"Sure."

I remained i. The doorway while all the Bulgarians sat.

"I assume we all understand the terms of this agreement." One of the officials exclaimed.

"Well I'll tell you, the exact terms of the agreement, are these."

Mikeal pressed a button in the phone and several men in FBI coats appeared and entered the room.

"FBI, don't move." One of the FBI said "You all right, sir?"

"Oh, I'm fine." Mikeal said while one of the officials said. "Yes, of course."

"I'm fine, thanks for asking, everything's perfectly…"

Two of the FBI agents grabbed Mikeal's arms.

"What? What are you …? Wait a minute, wait a minute, let go of me, please." They freed his arms "What are you looking at me for, the criminals are sitting right over there, look at them. Listen, I spoke to Special Agent Higgins, if you call him on the phone."

"I'm Special Agent Higgins." Higgins said holding his badge "Mikeal Mikealson you are under arrest for soliciting a bribe from these Bulgarian Government officials."

"I'm not-I'm not soliciting-these aren't even Bulgarians!" Mikeal said.

The Bulgarian held up his passport "Of course we are."'

"No. No, no." Mikeal shook his head.

"Your woman knew that when she contacted us last week." The Bulgarian said.

"My… woman? Ally? Ally?" He looked around but I was gone. He raises his hands "Um, Special Agent Higgins, Ally Shepard works for them."

"Ridiculous. She contacted us on your behalf."

"She told us she worked directly under you now."

_Flashback_

_Elena shook hands with the Bulgarian officials "Ally Shepard from Bering Aerospace, directly under Mikeal Mikealson."_

"But… b-but she took me. She took me to their office." Mikeal stuttered.

"No, we do not have an office in this city."

"Exactly."

"We met her at your other office."

_Flashback_

_Alaric put up a sigh that read "Bering Consulting. Mikeal Mikealson"._

_Elena shaking hands with the Bulgarian_

_"Ally Shepard, from Bering Aerospace."_

"The shareholders! The shareholders!" Mikeal ran from the room.

At the exterior of the building, police cars with lights and sirens flashing pulled up to building. Many FBI agents run inside, mingling with the guests at the party.

"What in god's name."

" No, no, no. Uh, everybody, could I have your attention? It's just, it's just a permit problem."

"Mikeal, what's going on?"

"I can explain."

"Anybody else here involved in the bribe?"

"Bribe?"

"There's no bribe."

"I handed this man an envelope containing a cashier's check for $200,000."

"No. No, no. Nobody- I wasn't handed any… "

_Flashback_

_The Bulgarian placed a check in an envelope and put the envelope in his pocket._

"I didn't—nobody handed…"

_Flashback_

_Elena walked to the end of the table and took an envelope from the Bulgarian. She quickly switched it before handing a different envelope to Mikeal._

"This will look a lot better for you if you did not deposit that check. Do you still have it?"

"I didn't get a check."

"Sir, we got people searching the lab, seizing the files and computers."

"Good job."

"Mikeal, news crews. If they find out."

"Higgins! Higgins you can't do that! You can't take my computer."

"This company has government defense contracts. There are very serious rules regarding contact with foreign nationals. The Patriot Act applies here my friend. Sir, I can take your underpants."

"Okay, it's getting a little aggressive. I'm sorry, Bobatumbai, this is Tom Bailey. These gentlemen are from Bulgaria. Everybody just take it easy, relax, I'll be back and explain everything."

"Where are you going? Mikeal! Mikeal!"

DAMON POV

Pierson waiting by the window as I approached.

"I came alone." He said.

"Yes, I know, thank you Mr. Pierson." I walked over to him "Now I understand your research was completely wiped out. I have complete copies right on these hard drives along with absolute proof that they were on Bering Aerospace computers, that should be good for a couple of lawsuits, right?"

"I drop the investigation of all parties involved with the original theft."

"That seems fair. You get your property back."

"Agreed. No charges. Nothing on you, or your people."

I handed him the hard drive and walked away.

"Don't you want money?" Pierson asked.

"This particular project has a..." I paused "Different revenue stream."

In Mikeal's office FBI agents looked through files and took boxes away while Mikeal sat watching the news.

"In a massive sell-off sparked by multiple federal investigations of Bering Aerospace the stock plummeted 33 percent before trading was halted."

Mikeal's phone rang and he answered.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you should have just paid us." Damon said.

"I found the transmitter." Mikeal exclaimed.

"Oh, you found the transmitter with the blinking light, yeah, we wanted you to figure some of it out. Then we just gave you what you were expecting."

"I am Mikeal Mikealson," he paused "I am going to beat this."

"Aren't you forgetting about the bribe?"

"Who cares? You can't prove anything, I didn't get any money."

FBI Agent opened the safe behind Mikeal, taking out handfuls of cash.

"We didn't need the FBI to show up and take you to jail, we just needed them to show up and take boxes out of your office, all day long in front of TV cameras, scaring your investors. You going to jail is just a bonus." Damon laughed "I wouldn't say anything about us to the Feds. Next time we won't be so nice."

"Who was that?" One of the FBI asked.

Mikeal paused shakily "Nobody."

DAMON POV

"No, it doesn't account for all of it." I shook my head "Elena kept a little to buy a truly impressive number of shoes."

"What is it with woman and shoes?" Rebekah asked.

"There's something wrong with you." Elena frowned.

"That's what I said." Alaric agreed.

"See if a company's stock price falls ten, fifteen percent in one day and you see it coming, you sell short, you make a lot of money. If it's going to fall thirty percent you can make shattering amounts of money."

Matt handed out envelopes to each member of the group. We opened them to find checks for millions of dollars.

"Job well—" I looked at the check "Whoa!"

"There was an overlap in the London stock market. Valuation carried over to NASDAQ and… I'm just very good at what I do." Matt chuckled.

"This is the score." Rebekah paused "THE score."

"Age of the geek, baby."

"Somebody kiss this man so I don't have to." Alaric laughed.

"So, we're out, huh?" Matt said " I mean we're out, this is retirement money. This is go legit and buy an island money."

"Uh, yeah." I nodded "Pleasure working with you."

"Yeah." Alaric agreed "One show only. No encores."

"I already forgot your names." Rebekah stated.

After a long look around all of us went our separate paths. Mine happened to be followed by Matt.

"You know I never had that cool a time on a job." He exclaimed.

"It's a walkaway." I replied.

"And I got focus issues," He paused "You kept me right on."

Rebekah joined us "I'm really good at one thing—"

"Rebekah."

"-only one thing that's it, but you, you know other things and-and I can't stop doing my one thing, can't retire …"

Alaric walked up.

"You want to know what I think?"

"Not really."

"How long until you fall apart again?"

"Oh I'm touched." I said sarcastically.

"Well a guy like you can't be out of the game, that's why you were a wreck, you need the chase."

"Yeah, I'll manage." My phone begun to ring and I answered "Yeah."

Elena sat at a nearby bench and hung up her phone.

"You pick the jobs." Elena said.

"My job is helping people." I stated " I help find bad guys."

"Then go find some bad guys. Bad guys have money. Black King, White Knight."

I gave her a long look.

* * *

"I'm sorry." The mother cried hysterically.

"No, no, no." The father shook his head.

"Please," Elena said softly "take your time."

"She-she was 17."

"I know."

"They killed her. They said it was an accident but that company killed her. I want them hurt."

"W-we can't pay you."

Elena paused "We work on an alternative revenue stream."

"I don't understand. The judge said that we couldn't appeal. What are you gonna do?" The father asked.

"People like that, corporations like that, they have all the money they have all the power and they use it to make people like you go away. Right now you're suffering under an enormous weight. We provide," Damon paused "Leverage."

The End


End file.
